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This weekend, I decided to have the weekend to myself. I did not hang out with anyone. I wanted to start unpacking some boxes and see what was in them since I hadn’t gotten a chance to look at them. I also wanted to start packing up stuff and throwing away things I did not use or need.[1. This is a footnote.] It was sort of a Spring cleaning.

I also started working on homework since my projects are due within the next couple of weeks. And I had 3 group projects due for my technical communications class. I stayed up until 1 a.m. on Sunday night because one of the group members hadn’t finished his part of the project and we had to tally up the votes and do some calculations and graphs.

Also my roommate, Cheese, had more people coming into town for Spring Break. I was nervous because I wanted to sleep and I know what happens when his friends come to town. I was glad they were only staying until Monday and for the rest of the week they were going to be staying in Orlando. They did wake me up on Sunday night, but this time it didn’t go all night long. I even woke up because I got confused because it was so quiet at 4 am.

I forgot to mention that I got a call on Thurs by my career counselor. She was informing me that one of the internships was interested in me and that they were interviewing students on Monday for internships. This internship is in Dallas/Ft. Worth. I have not lived here, but I have visited and driven through here.

I may go Skydiving on Friday. I am supporting Hilda who has paid 3 times to go, but has not been able to actually do it because of her fear. There is also a concealed weapons course that I want to take, but I am not sure if I have time. There is also an Up Til’ Dawn Finale, which is a dance marathon, looking forward to that.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

On Monday, I prepared myself for my internship interview. I did some research on the company and their history. I wanted to know what they stood for. I had gone to the career center and found someone that had done the internship had applied for a couple of years ago. I noticed that some people that did the internships I had applied for were pilots. I enjoyed reading about the different positions the interns have had in the past. The one I am being interviewed for sounded interesting. You are in charge of emergencies. You would have to make sure that the response to those emergencies are being executed correctly and then you look at the glitches your program may have. After you do the simulation, you would have to evaluate the exercise and look for areas of improvement. It is an unpaid internship though, but it’s in Seattle. I just can’t pass this opportunity.

I did my interview on Tuesday and I think it went all right. I feel that I need to work on my interviewing skills though. I kept saying “and stuff” a lot. We covered that in my speech class. I’ll be working on staying quiet instead of trying to fill in the silence. Later on that night, I went to Flip Its with Holly and hung out with Matt and friends. We went to a guy named Adam’s place and played Wii for the rest of the night. I managed to beat Matt in the boxing game, but couldn’t beat him in anything else.

On Wednesday, Holly and I went to the beach and ate at Johnny Rockets. Matt also joined us for dinner. We watched a movie and talked for a bit.

On Thursday, I met up with Holly and Lisa and went to Razzle’s. The cover charge was $15. No, I do not think it’s worth it. I think they also increased the price because of the Spring Breakers. It was so packed in there, I couldn’t dance in peace without someone hitting me or pushing me. I might give it a try another time, but I’d rather go to Aqua.

I was finally happy because Friday finally arrived. I got my test scores for my Aero Sci class and it was a low B. I wanted to get a high B or a low A, but given the circumstances I think I did well. 🙂

I also went to Ocean Deck with a couple of people. It was my first time going there so it was quite fun. It is a Spring Break hot spot here in Daytona. There was a $ 10 cover charge, but because I was an ERAU student I got in for free. I love free stuff. I also dropped off my roommate’s friends at the airport at 5 in the morning. They were having a hard time getting a taxi and of course my roommate was sleeping. I really liked them. Overall they were nice. I just wanted to make sure I had all the rest I needed to keep up with classes and all the work I had to get done.

On Saturday, I drove to Orlando to see my friends from my old school. They were coming from a cruise and I wanted to see some familiar faces. We ate at Benningan’s in Orlando. Four of them were driving back to St. Louis, while my friend, Andy, stayed for the night to catch a flight to NM. I brought Andy back to Daytona and we ate at Adobe Gila’s. Then we walked on the beach for a bit. It was a beautiful day. I was sad to say good-bye to them because I miss them so much. We have been friends for four years. Most of us did AFROTC together. We also had classes and worked on group projects together.

This is what college is all about: Going through good and bad and learning how to deal with it. College is where you meet you lifetime friends and your future co-workers. I know I am going to see most of my classmates here at ERAU in the future. We all have one common interest and that is safety. 🙂

My roommate, Cheese, had some friends from PA traveling to visit him for Spring Break. You can say it was a week of being woken up by drunk people. It was stressful for me because I had two tests that week. I wanted to do well on my Human Factors in Aviation class and my Intro. to Aeronautical Science class. I passed both of my tests which was a good thing. Instead of studying though, I spent most of my time falling asleep. I am not the type of person to take naps. One night I pulled him aside and told him that he needed to keep it down because I had to be up early and had a test the next day. He tells me that it was Spring Break for him and that I was being inconsiderate. He’s so lucky he had guests in the house. He moved his little party to his room which I was happy but by then it was 4 am and I had to be up by 7 in the morning. After my 8 o’clock class, I went to work and fell asleep on the couch. I was quite embarrassed because the Department Chair kept walking in, but I couldn’t keep my eyes opened to do my work. I thought I was going to get in trouble, but I didn’t. My boss knew that I was having a hard time at home because of my roommate.

On Wednesday, the sorority had an event called Xi Man. In this event, we choose our sweetheart. It is also one of our Philanthropy events. The boys put on an exciting and fun show. I would recommend you to watch it next year.

I also had a study session for my Intro. to Aero Sci class. My professor sets up a study session the day before the test to make sure we don’t have any questions and we understand all the material we covered. He asks a student that has some of flying experience to run the study session and help the non-pilots. For me, it’s a difficult class. I think I mentioned this before, but you must have a passion for flying.

I am glad when Friday came around. I went to my room and caught up on sleep.

Oh and I did a call back for one of the internships I had applied for. 🙂

Hey everyone. I hope everyone is doing well. My past two weeks have been busy with events. The Sigma Chis won all the events for the week and they even won the contest for Relay for Life. They raised over $2000 for it. It’s exciting all the Greek organizations getting together and hanging out for fun and games.

On Saturday night, I went to Orlando to pick up Hilda’s friend from the airport. We then went to Club Paris in downtown Orlando. It was my first time in downtown Orlando. I had a great time. It was $5 for 21 and over and $ 10 for under 21. It felt good to be away from Daytona for a bit. I also forgot about the time change so I got home late.

All of last week, I have been spoiling my little sister with presents. I am so excited when she finds out who I am on Saturday. I was also late for Relay for Life because I had been working on my presents of the day for her. At the Relay for Life, they presented all the people that were survivors and their caregivers. I was surprised to see that half the people on stage were in my sorority. It was encouraging to see some people I recognized there to support the survivors. I walked for a couple of hours and then went home. After Relay for Life, we had a bike wash for a fundraiser.

On Sunday, we had the girls play flag football. The Powder Puff game was brutal. It reminded me of how rough girls can get. The gold team won this year’s game. One of the girls on that team messed up her knee and now she’s on crutches for awhile now. I had a great time playing because it gave me the opportunity to meet other girls that I don’t normally interact with.

On Saturday, I went to my semi-formal. I brought one of my friends, Dan with me. It was at the Museum of Arts and Sciences here in Daytona. I had heard about this museum but I wasn’t sure where it was. I was pretty impressed with what I saw. I am planning on going some day when it is open just because they had some nice paintings that I would like to learn about.

On Friday, there was a homerun derby with each of the presidents from each Greek organization. I also found out who my Lil for the sorority is going to be. I am so excited because I get to spoil her for a week with presents.

On Thursday, we had a Greek speaker come in and talk to us. He is well-known and travels around the country giving speeches. He had valuable lessons for us to learn. He was telling us how we should focus on our academics and to do something we really want to do in life. He also explained to us that if we were going to drink that we should do it responsibly. He said it’s not worth it to drink and drive and he hates going to funerals when those types of fatalities have occurred. No one would hire us if we had an alcohol-related incident especially the pilot world, it’s true. No one would hire you because they might see you as a liability. He also told us that if we had any problems, he would be willing to talk to us and that we can e-mail or call him anytime we needed to.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been working hard on my school work. I did horrible on my first two tests of the semester. I was disappointed in myself. In my other two tests, I did awesome. I aced my fire protection test. I thought I was going to do badly since I had so much going on the night before. I studied with someone else for about an hour. I know that helped me out because there were some terms and questions I still had that my friend was able to answer.

The Daytona 500 was crazy. I arrived to Daytona from Miami when there were three laps left in the race. I am so happy I saw the ending of the race because I had never seen anything like it. In the end, I did not work during race week because my job was cancelled. I went to the University of Miami with another ERAU student for a conference. The conference was on how to end global poverty and what we can do to help people. There were many different ideas; of course some of them were very controversial; while others were acceptable and doable. People are trying to help out the poor and we also need to keep in mind that people that are homeless were not always poor. One of the speakers was earning six figures in a year and because of his wife, he ended up living in the streets because he could not support her habit. Now he lives in one of the homes that help homeless people. He is currently trying to get his life together. There are also other places like the food bank that try to give people food. They feel bad because they have to turn people away because they don’t have enough food to distribute.

The one statement that hit home is the fact that many kids (in the thousands) go to sleep hungry every night. It reminded me why I enjoy helping people. I am philanthropy chair for my sorority. Helping children is our priority. I am currently working on a couple of projects so we can interact with children. I am excited about that.

This week is Greek Week. We had a Xi man BBQ on Sunday so we can meet all the contestants. So far we haven’t won in any of the events for Greek Week. We had a Chariot Race and a Soap Box Derby. Our Soap Box derby didn’t even finish the race. I knew we were going to be racing on grass, but we weren’t anticipating on sand. So our little Soap Box got stuck in the sand. I helped in finding the parts for it, but Isadora built the whole thing. I fell asleep with my contacts on and the next day I woke up with a red eye. My eye still hurts. I don’t drive at night or anything just because my eye is sensitive and I have people driving me around to places.

I saw a motorcycle accident today on my way to school. He flew a couple of yards. He did not have a motorcycle helmet on. He was not conscious. He was just laying there. I really hope he’s ok.

My apartment is starting to get full of people coming down for Spring Break. Dave had his ex-girlfriend down here for a couple of days from PA. Now we have two of Amy’s friends from MN staying at our place for a couple of days. I love meeting new people even though I am shy.

For the rest of the week for Greek week, we have a pyramid contest, tug of war and a powder puff game. Our sorority is having a semi formal with a Mardi Gras theme to it. Next week is also Relay for Life followed by a Car Wash.

I haven’t done much around campus. I have been pretty much consumed in work, school, and Greek life. We’ve been holding events were we meet girls and I have been trying to set up fundraisers for Relay for Life. Also, Xi Man and Relay for Life are in March.

Most of my tests are this week or next week. I am not confident in the tests I had today. Right now, I am hoping I just pass. I feel that I should have been more prepared. I have another test in my AS 120 class. There’s a lot of new information that I need to learn. If you want to fly for a living, you have to have a true passion for doing it. What I do like in the class is the videos that my professor shows us. In class for the first 5-10 minutes, he shows us a video about flying. It can be a jet fighter flying low, a plane landing, or an aircraft that didn’t work. The professor is having a study session on Wednesday to prepare us for the test and make sure all of our questions are answered.

An interesting experience I had during work hours was that I had to proctor a quiz. I am really shy and don’t really like to speak in public, but I had to give them instructions. It’s a nice exposure to what professors or any public speakers go through every day.

On Saturday, I am going to be working the races. I am going to be working as one of the gatekeepers on the actual racetrack. I have to make sure the people have the correct tag on them before I can let them into the area. The traffic (both pedestrian and car) is congested. The speedway is on my way to campus so I get the opportunity to see all the traffic and mobile homes parked around on the area where I live. I am not sure how I am going to get to the speedway. I can park on campus because it is so close or I can try to walk it. I guess I’ll find out on Saturday.

If you have any questions, just ask. I hope everyone is having a great day.

Today I went to the shooting range for the very first time in my life with the Firearms Club. I was very nervous just because I had never shot a gun in my life. The closest experience was when I did the Firearms Training System (FATS) at a local community college in Los Angeles. I did laser shooting through a simulation program that would put me in certain events and I would have to decide on whether to shoot or not. It was very addicting. The guns I shot were a Glock 26, an 1851 Colt Revolver, an HK 47, and a Kimber 45. All the guys I was training with were friendly. They felt that knowing how to handle a gun is very important. It helps prevent accidents if a person knows what they are doing. Chad and Ryan were saying that girls get intimidated easily when they see a gun. I would have to agree.

The first time while the president of the organization was telling me all the components of the gun and teaching me how to use it, I hesitated and put the gun down a couple of times. Even though I know there wasn’t a magazine in the gun, I was scared to use it. The idea of having something in my hands that can cause so much harm petrified me. He made me point the gun at a target and pretend to aim and shoot until I felt comfortable. He then taught me how to load the gun along with some safety measures you need to take while having a loaded gun. By the end of the afternoon, I was feeling more comfortable in handling guns.

Keep in mind the school doesn’t tolerate having weapons at school. If you are going to live in the dorms, there are storage lockers off campus that you can rent and store your weapons. Campus safety is working with the Firearms Club in ensuring that the necessary safety precautions are being taken.

So far I am feeling a little bit overwhelmed with everything I have this semester. My classes are not going to be easy. I have 4 different groups that I have to meet with on a weekly basis. My technical report writing class requires us to meet a couple of times a week outside of class. The rest of my group projects are 20 page and 1 hour presentations. I am also finding myself only sleeping about 2-5 hours a night.

My computer is not helping me. My programs are not working properly and I installed the new version of Windows Explorer and now I don’t have internet because of a firewall. Good thing my roommate is a member of the Geek Squad and he knows what he is doing.This week is Greek Week. We have a couple of events that we are having and we are meeting girls who want to be a part of the Greek life.If some of this doesn’t make sense, pardon me. If you have any questions, don’t be afraid to ask. I hope you all have a great day.

On Sunday, Matt, three of his friends and I went to Tampa Bay for the Red Hot Chili Peppers Concert. It was about a 3 hour drive. We left early so we can get some dinner over there. We ate at a place called Splitsville. I really liked the environment. It was a restaurant/bar/bowling alley. I wish there was a place like that here in Daytona.

Gnarls Barkley was the opening band. The Red Hot Chili Peppers were awesome. I am glad I went. They played some of my favorite songs. If you ever get the opportunity to see them, take it. On the way back from the concert, we stopped at the Hard Rock Casino. I lost $5 on the slot machines. Matt won $26 on the slots. We (except Matt) fell asleep on the way back. We didn’t get home until about 2:30 am. I stayed up for a bit and did some of my homework and realized that my MS Word program wasn’t working. I had forgotten to ask my roommate to fix it for me when I got my laptop back from the Geek Squad.